IMF censures Argentina over inflation data

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The International Monetary Fund is censuring Argentina for issuing inaccurate inflation data. The fund's board issued a statement Friday blasting Argentina for a breaching its membership obligations after considering a report by Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

The IMF has been urging Argentina for years to fix its consumer price index. The index lost credibility in 2007 after President Cristina Fernandez's husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, replaced career statisticians with political appointees and instituted a new methodology.

IMF experts and Argentine economists have spent months working with government officials to recommend detailed ways to get accurate numbers again, but the government has yet to adopt the recommendations. The board said there has been insufficient progress. The fund could eventually suspend Argentina's voting rights and membership.